Lord of the Rings makes clean sweep at Oscars

Published: February 29, 2004 7:00PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) They slew beasts, toppled tyrants and destroyed a ring of ultimate evil, becoming lords of the Academy Awards for their troubles.

In an all-around predictable evening at the Oscars, the ragtag heroes of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King hoisted the fantasy genre to a new artistic high Sunday, earning a record-tying 11 awards, taking best picture and sweeping each of its categories.

Peter Jackson, who shepherded J.R.R. Tolkiens Middle-earth saga to the screen, won the best director Oscar and shared the adapted-screenplay award with his two co-writers.

I think the fact that we had goblins and trolls and wizards and everything else made it hard for people to take it seriously, Jackson said backstage. I appreciate that the academy and voters tonight have seen through all that.

All four acting front-runners won, each claiming their first Oscar. Sean Penn took the best-actor prize as a vengeful father in Mystic River, and Charlize Theron won for best actress as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster.

Supporting-performance Oscars went to Tim Robbins as a man emotionally hamstrung by childhood trauma in Mystic River and Renee Zellweger as a hardy Confederate survivor in Cold Mountain.

Theron joked that since everyone in New Zealand where Lord of the Rings was shot had been thanked, she had to thank everyone in her home country, South Africa.

And my mom, said Theron, who gained 30 pounds for Monster and was unrecognizable behind dark contact lenses and unflattering makeup. You have sacrificed so much for me to be able to live here and make my dreams come true, and there are no words to describe how much I love you. And Im not going to cry.

Penn who has been dismissive of awards in the past but graciously accepted after skipping the Oscars the three previous times he was nominated was taken by surprise when the audience gave him a standing ovation.

I did arguably feel I was there to debunk the notion that it was a popularity contest, Penn said backstage. But they took that away from me in the room.

Sofia Coppolas Oscar victory for original screenplay for Lost in Translation made her family the second clan of three-generation Oscar winners, joining Walter, John and Anjelica Huston. Her father is five-time winner Francis Ford Coppola, who was an executive producer on Lost in Translation, and her grandfather, Carmine Coppola, won for musical score on The Godfather Part II.

I never thought my dad would be watching me get one, Coppola said. So its just a thrill.